The unseeded Hogg, from the East Fife club, is through to a second successive quarter-final in a world ranking tournament and he will hoping to repeat his recent world indoor singles first round victory over England's Mervyn King, seeded five, when they clash for a place in the semi-finals. Hogg edged the first set, 9-8, against the consistent England left-hander from Suffolk, and after conceding the second, 10-5, the 32-year-old Scot kept his cool in the tie-break to win it 2-1 and become the only unseeded player to make the quarter-finals.
Marshall is yet to win a ranking title outside his beloved Potters Leisure Resort, home of the world indoor championships, but he showed the kind of form against newly-crowned world champion Andy Thomson to suggest his long wait may soon be over after a fascinating tactical battle that lived up to expectations in terms of high quality and drama.
After storming into an 8-2 lead in the first set, Marshall had to fend off a strong comeback by the 56-year-old England captain before claiming it 11-7, with three shots over the last two ends. Thomson held the upper hand in the second, taking it 7-6, although Marshall was close on three occasions with running bowls that might have avoided the tension of a tie-break. Marshall produced a superb forehand draw shot under pressure to secure the first end of the tie break with his last delivery, then put his first two bowls close on the next, which produced three unsuccessful weighted bowls from Thomson, and so his bid to win back-to-back ranking titles was over.
Marshall, reaching the quarter-finals in Wales for only the second time, now faces an intriguing clash against his close friend and world indoor pairs winning partner Paul Foster, who was pushed all the way by England's Billy Jackson before getting home 8-10, 8-6, 2-0.
Fighting to preserve his place in the top 16, Jackson recovered from 8-4 down in the first set to win it 10-8, but at 4-4 in the second, he dropped a maximum four count that proved crucial in the context of a close match, and the world number one, winner here in 2007, took full advantage to level matters at 8-6 before winning the opening two legs of the tie-break.
Greg Harlow set up an all-England quarter-final clash with Simon Skelton with a comprehensive destruction of Canadian qualifier Peter Ls Wong, shock first round winner over 12th seed Stewart Anderson, from Wales. The world number two accumulated a remarkable 29 shots and conceded only two in the match, including an 18-0 first set win in only six ends - a double, four trebles and a maximum four. The Canadian registered on the scorecard with a single on the opening end of the second set, but it was small consolation, as the England ace accelerated away again to win 11-2.
